Outstanding Leadership in Queens
2013 Honoree of the Queens Federation of Churches

The Reverend Victor T. Hall, Sr.

Rev. Victor T. Hall, Sr. is pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Jamaica since 1990. He previously was pastor of New Hope Baptist Church, the oldest African-American Christian Witness in Dallas, Texas. Licensed to preach by the Rev. Dr. E. K. Bailey and Concord Missionary Baptist Church in Dallas, he was ordained by the Eastern Baptist Association and the Rev. Dr. Harry S. Wright, Sr., at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Brooklyn, where he was a student minister for three years. He served as Associate Minister at the Union Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, and worked as Staff Assistant on the Black Theology Project in New York.

Pastor Hall is a Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Tau Delta honors’ graduate and was salutatorian of Morehouse College in Atlanta in 1982. A graduate of Union Theological Seminary, he did further graduate work at the University of Chicago, The Divinity School and studied at the Universities of London and Nanjing (China). Among his many honors and distinguished religious studies awards are the William & Gertrude Jackson Award, the E. K. Bailey Theological Award, the coveted Benjamin E. Mays Fellowship and the CIC Minority Fellowship.

As the tenth Pastor of Calvary, Pastor Hall has focused on impacting the Jamaica community with programs that aid children, youth, parents, seniors and the incarcerated. Under his leadership Calvary has grown tremendously in membership, finances, and ministries. In 1992, Calvary erected a 101-unit Senior Citizen Housing Complex across the street from the church. The church is currently working to expand the vision of housing seniors to include an additional eighty-unit housing facility for seniors raising their grandchildren. In 1993 a full-time youth ministry began, which has worked to encourage and promote outreach programs to thousands of children and youth throughout New York City and Long Island. The Imani Youth Ministry has taken scores of urban youth from the streets and sent them to colleges across the nation. The success has been profound with students in a number of fields ranging from law to teaching, ministry to public service and even the National Basketball Association. He also led the church in establishing a food pantry, which feeds hundreds each week. Today, Pastor Hall and Calvary have embarked upon a multi-million dollar renovation project known as Project Beautiful.

Through his leadership and vision, Calvary is home to a plethora of community and outreach ministries. Calvary’s Prison Ministry has reached and supported hundreds of inmates at Riker’s Island, while its Angel Tree program has reached and supported children and families of the incarcerated. Calvary continues its work with patients at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center and sponsors an annual Walk Against Cancer. Each year the Calvary Carnival and the Harvest Festival attract hundreds of children and youth from the nearby Jamaica community. Internationally, Calvary annually supports Christian missions in India, Africa, the Caribbean and now China. In 2008, Pastor Hall was honored to lead 40 members on a tour of Israel, a tour highlighted by his speech on race relations in the Israeli Knesset.

A life-time member of the NAACP, Pastor Hall serves as a Lieutenant Captain for the MTA Police, ministering to officers and their families. He is a member of Clergy United for Community Empowerment, the Baptist Ministers’ Conference of New York and Vicinity, the Eastern Baptist Association, The Empire State Baptist Convention of New York, the American Baptist Churches USA, The National Baptist Convention USA, and the Progressive National Baptist Convention.

Pastor Hall is married to Marvlieu Jolla Hall and they are the proud parents of three children, Victor II, Nia, and Ayanna.